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Psychological Injuries: The Military and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is both a psychological and physical condition which can arise due to frightening or extremely distressing events. It is a common condition and according to NHS statistics it affects around 5% of men and 10% of women at some point in their life.
In every day life anyone can go through an experience that is frightening or overwhelming. Military personnel however, are at much of a high risk of encountering such experiences.
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The most common circumstance in Personal Injury cases that arise from falls from a ‘height’ is that of someone falling from a ladder. Therefore, Schedule 6 of The Work at Height Regulations 2005 deals specifically with ladders!
Have you been injured by a ‘defective’ ladder at your work place? If so, this will be a straightforward claim to deal with as ALL work equipment must be of sufficient strength and suitable for the use it is intended for. If the ladder breaks or is damaged and thus results in an accident then there will be a breach of duty on your Employer’s part.
However, have you been injured by the misuse of a ladder?
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In a previous post I explained what ‘work equipment’ actually is and what is meant by the term ‘use at work’ but today I will try and help you answer the following:
“Is your work equipment actually suitable? What obligations do your Employer’s have to ensure the suitability of the equipment they provide you with?”
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Accidents At Work – A Simple Introduction
The European Framework Directive sets out certain regulations that govern Health and Safety in the work place.
The frame work directive applies to all sectors of work both public and private. Its sets out a number of general obligations that employers must follow, these include:
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Accidents on Construction Sites
The facts:
- 7% of the UK workforce work within the construction industry
- 25% of fatal accident’s result from construction sites; and
- 16% of major accidents
It is clear from the above statistics that working within the construction industry is both a risky business and darn right dangerous. If your brave enough to work on a construction site it’s important to ensure that both you and your Employer do everything to ensure that the workplace is as safe as possible. Being lax on safety on a Construction site is a complete NO-NO and from our experience is like playing with fire!
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Personal Protective Equipment and Work Accidents
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is necessary to protect you in particular against health and safety risks to vulnerable areas of your persons i.e. your head, face, eyes, skin, hands etc.
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992 impose a fairly strict regime for both Employer’s and Employee’s to follow and these are intended to work together to provide you the employee with the most effective protection.
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In order for a victim to successfully pursue a claim for compensation the injured victim must prove that the other party (known as the Defendant) was not only negligent (i.e. at fault for the accident) but also that the negligent party by his or her negligence caused the victims injuries and other losses sustained ( we call this ‘causation’).
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Injured Parties in Fatal Accidents: A Question of Proximity
Often, where a dependent of a deceased visits a solicitor to discuss a potential claim for damages, they may ask about claiming damages for the grief and stress they have suffered following the death. Shock or grief alone is not sufficient to make a claim. However, that is not to say that a claim cannot be considered where actual recognised psychiatric injury has been suffered.
Psychiatric injury can be difficult to prove and in order to bring a claim the claimant must have:
1) Suffered a recognised psychiatric illness.
2) Brought the action within one of the recognised categories for a claim
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Compensation and Failing to Wear a Cycle Helmet
The Highway Code states that a cyclist should wear certain things when cycling, those being:
* A helmet which is the correct size and is fastened correctly
* Appropriate clothing for cycling ( so no baggy trousers that could get caught in the chain)
* Florescent clothing which is appropriate for the time of day and weather conditions ( so that other road users can still see you no matter the weather!)
Although the highway code has set this advice for cyclists, there is no requirement by law to actually wear the items.
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Helicopter Crash: Who Might Claim and Who Might be Liable?
A helicopter crash in the North Sea could have been prevented after experts investigating the crash revealed that an earlier problem with the aircraft’s gearbox was not correctly identified.
According to the BBC website, a metal chip was found in the gear box of the Super Puma aircraft a week prior to the incident and engineers did institute extra checks. However, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) state that if the importance of the chip had been identified correctly then the module which failed could have been taken out of service. The experts indicate that a full review of the design and operating life of parts on the machine should be instigated.
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